


The Fog of Mars

by BarPurple



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: A Monthly Rumbelling, Dub con because of lust potion, F/M, Smut, War of the Worlds Fusion, mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-05-04 01:47:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14582241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarPurple/pseuds/BarPurple
Summary: No one would have suspected in the last years of the nineteenth century that mankind was being observed from across the vastness of space. Nor would anyone have suspected that these observers would chose to turn our basest natures against us.





	The Fog of Mars

In the days that followed the crash of the cylinder on the Common, people continued their daily routines serenely, without fear, and only with mild curiosity for the strange object that had crossed the vastness of space from the red planet. In hindsight the tranquil monotony of those few days made what followed all the more terrible.

It was from Ogvily that I first heard of the destructive force the cylinders were unleashing. An eccentric man, he was in touch with others who shared his curiosity for astronomy and natural sciences. One such fellow was a doctor who resided in New York. Through the telegraph he had been reporting the actions of the cylinder that had landed in Manhattan. I watched Ogvily blanch and stagger as he read the latest message from his colleague Jefferson.

“Whatever is the matter?”

With shaking hands, he reached for the decanter of whiskey. When he slopped the liquid over the table I took it from his hands and poured him a measure. He downed it in one fast swallow and collapsed into his chair only to begin laughing hysterically. I grabbed his lapels and shook him in an attempt to break him from whatever madness had gripped him. He grasped my hands and chuckled; “They are attacking.”

“The Martians? By what means?”

I released him and stepped back, disturbed by the mad gleam in his eyes.

“They are using us.”

“You’re making no sense, man!”

For a moment I feared the madness had taken him beyond reason, but he slumped back in his chair and sounding composed, but still shaken he began to explain.

“The cylinder in New York opened and released a fog. Harmless at first, so they thought, but then people began turning on each other. Stealing, fighting, attacking, even killing. The Martians have unleashed our darkest lusts.”

He gave another chuckled that sent a chill of dread down my spine.

“It’s a perfect strategy. We will destroy ourselves leaving the planet to them.”

I groped for the decanter but halted before I had poured myself a whiskey.

“Belle!”

I had thought my darling Belle would be safe in her little house in New Brompton, so far from the Common and its metal invader, but fog could cover that distance as easily as the Martians had crossed the emptiness of space. Ogvily understood my panic and leapt from his chair to consult the telescope he had trained on the cylinder.

“I estimate we have only minutes before this one opens. With the wind as it is the fog will reach the north of the river within the hour.”

I would have to travel fast, but I could get to Belle as the fog arrived. As I struggled into my coat Ogvily grabbed my arm in an attempt to dissuade me from departing.

“You’ll never make it to her in time, Gold! Jefferson describes the effects of the fog as an orgy of carnality and brutality!”

I shook my arm from his grasp. How could I leave my sweet Belle to face such horrors alone? Ogvily sighed, resigned to my determination for this apparent suicidal journey. He insisted on pressing his revolver into my hand. I took it reluctantly, I had never fired a gun in my life and feared my inexperience would render the weapon useless.

I hurried away in to the gathering dusk. The last sight I had of Ogvily was of him framed in the doorway of his home on the Common, the decanter in his hand. I fancied that I could see the madness of fear glinting in his eyes.

I had scarcely reached Lavender Hill when a sonorous clang echoed from behind me. I turned in time to witness a great plume of green fog rising from the cylinder. Adrenaline coursed through my veins and I rushed onwards to the Thames and my darling Belle.

At the edge of Battersea Park, I found crowds of people had gathered to stare at the spectacle of the Martian fog. Traders were selling pies and roasted chestnuts, children ran around their parents, laughing as if this was a fair or holiday. I wanted to scream at their complacency, to rage at their idle indifference, but I saved my breath and struggled through the mass of bodies. I was the only person heading away from the Common, the only person aware of the true danger the invaders presented.

My progress was halted further when a commanding voice ordered the crowd to clear the road. A company of artillerymen where marching towards the Common. I stood by helplessly as these brave armed men walked towards their inevitable demise. Ogvily’s revolver weighed heavily in the pocket of my overcoat, what use would our guns be against a poisonous fog that could turn us into our worst selves?

My eyes met those of a young artilleryman, he smiled and nodded at me.

“Did they really think Londoners would be scared of fog? Guess these Martians have never seen a real Pea Souper.”

Those around me cheered at his bravado, but my heart was heavy, and I found myself already mourning for the young man as he marched on towards his inevitable death. Once the artillery company had moved on I took to the road again, constantly aware of the wind at my back, that seemingly gentle autumnal breeze that would only hasten the deathly Martian fog towards millions of unsuspecting Londoners and beyond.

I reached Battersea Bridge and was within sight of Belle’s home. The joy I felt was tempered by the realization that the wind had picked up and the green fog was already streaming across the Thames. I pulled my scarf over my face in the hopes it would ward off the effects, but as I crossed the bridge I saw people succumbing to their basest natures. I skirted by brawls, praying that I would not be swept up in the madness.

On the Chelsea side of the river I saw a butcher’s barrow swamped by people gorging themselves on raw meat. My stomach heaved at the sight, and I forced myself onwards. I felt no urge to join these poor lost souls in their lust of gluttony, despite the ever-thickening green fog my mind was still my own, for now.

A ruckus in the churchyard of St Mary’s drew my attention. On the improvised pulpit of a gravestone a parson was preaching at the top of his lungs.

“The Devil’s sign is upon us. The green flash in the sky has freed the demons waiting in our souls. The Devil’s minions are feeding on the power of our fear and the evil within us!”

None of the crowd were paying him any heed. My first thought was that there was a mass brawl occurring under the nose of the oblivious parson, but upon closer inspection I realised I was witnessing an orgy of gross licentiousness. To my growing horror and shame, I could not drag my eyes away from the sight of debauchery before me.

By the doors of the church a great brute of a man was attempting to subdue a slight woman. He had succeeded in tearing her dress, but suddenly howled in pain as the woman launched herself at his face and clawed his eyes to bloody streaks. The brute stumbled and fell backwards, his head hitting a gravestone with a sickening crack. The woman stood on his chest and howled her victory. The primal sound shook me from the stupor I had fallen into and once again I was running towards Belle’s house.

The streets were clearer as I raced towards the little red brick house that contained the only person I cared about in all of London. As I crossed the mouth of the alley which ran along the side of her house I was rudely grabbed and shoved against the wall. I struggled to reach my pocket and the revolver it contained, when I chanced to look into the eyes of my attacker.

“Belle!”

“Oh Rum! It’s not safe out here. We need to get into the house.”

I followed her without question, clinging to her hand, her waist, any part of her I could reach in order to keep her close and reassure myself that she was here, alive and unharmed. She led me through the house and into the cellar. The green fog had insinuated its way into her home, but the air in the cool cellar was sweet and fresh.

“I thought I would never see you again, my love.”

Belle wrapped her arms around my shoulders and moulded her mouth to mine. The kiss was like nothing we had shared before, passionate, breathless and desperate. I could not bear to release her, but I managed to pull back enough to say; “The fog. It provokes our lusts…”

She silenced me with a sweet press of her soft lips.

“I know Rum, but the world is falling into madness and destruction. May we not take our final hours in pleasure?”

In this moment I didn’t care that our minds were being manipulated by the fog of the invaders, all I wanted was to lose myself in her loving embrace.

The Martian fog had done its work well. Neither of us displayed any shame as we tore at each other’s clothing, as we pawed and groped at bare flesh. There was no tenderness, no soft words, nor loving looks. Our coupling was the desperate rutting of wild, savage beasts.

As we lay panting and flushed in the aftermath there came a sound. The gentle patter of rain against the small window set high in the wall. As the drops came faster and faster turning into an autumnal storm I found the savagery that had clouded my mind was receding.

My humanity returned in the form of burning shameful guilt for the actions I had revelled in only moments ago. I could not look at my darling Belle as I covered my naked form with the tattered remains of my clothing. I heard her moving beside me and then her gentle hand wrapped around my wrist.

“I have no regrets, Rum.”

I turned to face her, how could I not when she was being so brave and true?

“Neither do I my love.”

I had meant to offer her reassurance despite my own feelings of intense shame, but as I looked into her loving eyes my words became the truth. I did not regret our strange savage coupling.

Outside the rain fell hard and cold, clearing the air of the Martian’s first attack. Tomorrow we would venture forth and face the horrors left in the wake of the fog, but for tonight I slept wrapped in the loving arms of my dear sweet Belle.

**Author's Note:**

> A monthly Rumbelling Smut prompt - Lust potion accident.


End file.
